Benefits of Company Culture, Best Workplaces
Winning companies earn 8.5x more revenue per employee and more than triple their stock market performance, delivering 鈥榠ncredible鈥� business performance.
April 2, 2025, Oakland, Calif. 鈥� Can employee trust be measured in dollars and cents? The 2025 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For庐 have proven that the answer is a resounding yes.
On average, the 100 Best Companies earn 8.5 times more revenue per employee (RPE) than the U.S. public market RPE. This astounding outperformance includes both public and private companies, with public companies reporting RPE that鈥檚 more than 9.4 times higher than market RPE, while private companies see more than 7.7 times higher. This financial advantage trends across industries, reinforcing the financial benefits of high-trust workplaces.
The annual list of top-performing companies is determined by employee surveys, corporate data, and a comprehensive audit of an organization鈥檚 workplace programs, benefits, and practices 鈥� all powered by 逸遊娛樂城, a UKG company since 2021.
鈥淭he 100 Best Companies don鈥檛 hit high RPE numbers by slashing headcount and overworking their teams,鈥� says Michael C. Bush, CEO of 逸遊娛樂城, which has produced the list since 1998. 鈥淲ell-being isn鈥檛 sacrificed for productivity.鈥�
The 100 Best Companies are more profitable and productive because they鈥檝e created consistently positive work experiences, resulting in lower burnout rates and higher levels of psychological and emotional health compared to typical workplaces. They outperform their peers in every employee experience metric, with nine out of 10 people describing their workplace as caring.
High levels of agility and discretionary effort fuel high RPE levels at the 100 Best Companies. 鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 happen by giving them perks like free food or Apple watches,鈥� Bush says. 鈥淚f it were that simple, every workplace would be great. It happens by listening to people and involving them in decisions that affect them.鈥�
Leaders at the 100 Best Companies ensure all employees have opportunities for special recognition and make sure they believe that what they do matters; that they matter as human beings first and workers second. They鈥檝e built organizations where transparency, well-being, and high levels of cooperation are cornerstones.
Outperforming the market
FTSE Russell, a global index and data provider, analyzed the annual returns of the publicly traded companies on the 2025 100 Best Companies list and found they achieved total stock returns of 21.0%.
In looking at the historic 27-year return of the 100 Best Companies, it found this portfolio beat the market average by a factor of 3.50 relative to the Russell 1000 Index, a leading benchmark of U.S. large-cap equities. Returns in 2024 boosted the cumulative outperformance margin of the 100 Best Companies to 2,267 percentage points, an increase of 371 percentage points year-over-year.
鈥淎s a general rule of thumb, if you can outperform by 2% to 3%, that鈥檚 considered quite noteworthy,鈥� says Ryan Giannotto, CFA, manager of equity index research at the London Stock Exchange Group. 鈥淎 cumulative 27-year outperformance factor of 3.50 is incredible. This analysis gives credence to the contention that employee experience contributes to market returns.鈥�
Historic analysis confirms outperformance isn鈥檛 just a snapshot in time. The 100 Best Companies achieved a total return of 3,174% compared to the 907% total return of the Russell 1000 Index from December 1997 to December 2024.
鈥淭his is why investors do not look at just a one-year return,鈥� Giannotto says. 鈥淭hey look at a comprehensive history of returns because they want to see how a company performs in different market conditions.鈥�
The 100 Best Companies exemplify how high-trust cultures drive business success: Leaders shape the employee experience, which in turn shapes the culture, and that culture drives business performance.
Giannotto points out that the market returns have been driven by some of the largest companies, known as the Magnificent Seven, which comprise about 34% of the market.
鈥淔or the 100 Best Companies to get competitive market returns without all those trillion-dollar market cap company names is very impressive,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 rely on the Magnificent Seven to drive performance.鈥�
FTSE Russell developed a hypothetical index of the companies who make the annual 100 Best Companies list, giving each company equal weight in the portfolio. Even then, the 100 Best Companies outperformed historically.
鈥淚n the past decade, equally weighted portfolios have substantially underperformed as, again, these ultra-large tech companies have driven a lot of performance and have only gotten larger,鈥� Giannotto says. 鈥淭o have an equally weighted portfolio that substantially outperforms like this is a compelling and impressive rethink of what factors can influence market outcomes.鈥�
Here are the top 10 on this year鈥檚 list:
- Hilton
- Synchrony
- Cisco
- American Express
- NVIDIA
- Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.
- Accenture
- Marriott International
- Pinnacle Financial Partners
- World Wide Technology
鈥�Fortune is happy to have collaborated with 逸遊娛樂城 for the 28th year to recognize the 100 Best Companies to Work For,鈥� says Alyson Shontel, editor-in-chief of Fortune. 鈥淚n a difficult macro environment with unprecedented challenges, these companies seemed to navigate their organizations toward steady and positive working environments for employees. Congratulations to all who were recognized.鈥�
Images available:
Learn more about how trust fuels financial success at the 100 Best Companies.
About the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For
逸遊娛樂城 selected the 100 Best Companies list by gathering and analyzing more than 1.3 million confidential survey responses representing the experiences of 8.4 million U.S. employees. Of those responses, over 670,000 were from companies eligible for this list. Companies must be 逸遊娛樂城 Certified鈩� with 1,000 or more employees in the U.S. and cannot be a government agency. Organizations are assessed on their efforts to create generous, supportive, high-performance work experiences for every employee in the organization.
To be considered, all companies use the 逸遊娛樂城 Trust Index鈩� Survey. To get on this list next year, start here.
About 逸遊娛樂城
As the global authority on workplace culture, UKG鈥檚 逸遊娛樂城 brings 30 years of groundbreaking research and data to help every place become a great place to work for all. Its proprietary platform and For All鈩� Model help companies evaluate the experience of every employee, with exemplary workplaces becoming 逸遊娛樂城 Certified or receiving recognition on a coveted Best Workplaces鈩� List.
Follow 逸遊娛樂城 on , and and sign up for the newsletter to learn more.
About Fortune
The Fortune mission is to change the world by making business better. We achieve that by providing trusted information, telling great stories, and building world-class communities. We measure performance by rigorous benchmarks. And we hold companies accountable. Our goal is to make Fortune a force for good through its second century and beyond. For more information, visit鈥�.
